Photos now available

I've uploaded some photos to the existing blog entries. (I'm sure this isn't how you're supposed to blog, but so what.)

I've also put some more photos at: http://www.peterhoward.org/borneo/

Coral and Monitor Lizards

We went out in a glass-bottomed boat to view the corals. Very splendid, but almost impossible to get photographs. Then we called in at Sapi, an island we'd visited before, sans camera, and seen huge monitor lizards. This time I was prepared for them, and got some good close-up shots.

We've both indulged in a Borneo massage - very civilised, with tea and a bath and more tea. You have to have your dominant element identified. There are five: Wood, Metal, Earth, Fire, and Water. I think we were both Metal. Or Water, perhaps.

Our last day today. Tomorrow we're starting our journey back, which should take us until Friday.

Monsopiad Cultural Village

Monsopiad is a legendary hero, who collected 42 enemy heads. They're on display in this village, together with various other cultural stuff. They gave us a welcome drink when we arrived, which turned out to be rice wine. It tasted a bit like dry sherry. The principal activities seem to be making rice wine, eating grubs live, and doing dance performances for tourists.

You could have a go with a slingshot (surprisingly difficult) and a blowpipe (surprisingly easy - I got a bird, a monkey and a lizard (targets, not real ones)). Heather got roped into one of the dances, which was quite scary.

And a crocodile

I almost forgot. It was a big one, too.

Jungle Trip

This was more like it. We took a flight from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, spending a couple of nights there.







First, we went to Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, where they re-introduce orang utans into the wild. This process can take several years, before the utans are completely rehabilitated (some of them never are.) Once the utans have been released, the sanctuary provides milk and bananas twice a day, so the utans have something to eat if they haven't learned to forage for themselves. We went to one of the feeding sessions and saw several orang utans turn up to be fed.









(The theory is, the sanctuary provides the same food every day, so the utans get bored with it, and start searching for their own, different food.)






As well as the orang utans, lots of wild macaques (long-tailed and pig-tailed) turned up to steal the food. They can be quite aggressive, so you have to be careful not to look at them in a funny way, or they'll get all their mates over to give you a seeing-to.




Next we went by speedboat to a lodge on the Kinabtangan River, where we stayed for two nights. Our room was on stilts, and was fairly basic, though it had a bed and a shower (which worked if you remembered to turn the water pump on.) We went on a couple of river cruises, searching for wildlife and managed to see:

• Great Egret
  
  
• Oriental Darter





• Rhinocerous Hornbill
  



• Black Hornbill


• Oriental Pied Hornbill
  
• Purple Heron
  
• Little Heron


• Black and red broadbill
  
  
  
• Stork- billed kingfisher



• Crested serpent eagle


• Monitor Lizard


• Reticulated Python
  
• Long tailed macaque
  
• Pig tailed macaque
  
• Silver leaf monkey


• Proboscis monkey

We also went to Gomantong Caves, which are full of swiftlets and their edible nests, and bats. It was very smelly. There was a walkway, covered in droppings and alive with cockroaches. That made it very slippery, but fortunately there was a handrail - covered in droppings and alive with cockroaches. David Attenborough went there, but I'm not sure why.

We also went on a jungle trek - just 1 km but it felt a lot longer. Very slippery and muddy. Not much wildlife apart from millipedes and leeches.

Kinabalu Park - World Heritage Site

Monday we went on a trip to Kinabalu Park, which is a reserve around Mount Kinabalu and a World Heritage Site. We went on a Nature Trail, which was a bit disappointing. We learned later that it's rare to see wildlife from the jungle floor.

We also went round the Mountain Garden, where there were lots of rare orchids.

I took a photo of the rarest orchid in the world, or so I'm told.

Photos will have to wait

I've taken lots of photos, but they'll have to wait until I get back. I don't have the technology to upload them here.

Five Island Cruise

We went on a '5 Island Cruise' - the islands are small ones off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. The first one was Gaya, but we couldn't land, because it's the home of a settlement of fishermen, who live in houses on stilts over the water. They only use the land to bury their dead. As the guide pointed out, they may be poor, but they still have satellite TV.

Sapi was the next one. The beach was crowded, but did have a group of monitor lizards, which were interesting to watch.

Manukan was possibly the nicest. Good white beach and we tried snorkelling. Lots of stripy fishes in the sea.

Sulug we couldn't land on because the jetty had been washed away.

Mamutik was the last. We had lunch there, and went on a ten minute nature trail, but it wasn't up to much.

Travel between the islands is by speedboat, typically powered by twin 85 hp 4-stroke outboards, so they go quite fast. The sea has quite a bit of plastic in it, and our boat had to stop to pick some out of one of the propellors.

Energy Crisis I

The complimentary newspapers on the aeroplane headlined on the 40% increase in petrol price. It's now RM 2.7 /litre. (There are about 6 Ringgets to the pound.)

Travelling

Well, we got here ok, despite a 4 Weddings moment on the morning of our departure. I know I set the alarm clock for 5am, but it unaccountably turned itself off during the night. I woke up, felt something was wrong, and discovered it was 5:30. The taxi was due at 6am, so it was a bit of a rush.

But we got away ok, and caught the train, then the tube to Heathrow. The flight was only slightly delayed and took about 12 hours to get us to Kuala Lumpur. Then there was a connecting flight to Borneo and a taxi waiting to take us to the hotel. Almost exactly 24 hours in transit. And our luggage arrived ok, despite the fact that we'd forgotten to padlock it in the rush to get away.

The hotel is very fine, and I've taken some photos of birds, but I think they're probably the local equivalent of sparrows. We're thinking about trips into the forest etc to see more exotic things in the next few days.